


Henry's Strange Little Family

by falsewings



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Co-Parenting, Fix-It, Gen, I'll add more character tags once they appear, Post-Season/Series 03A AU, Self-Indulgent, we're ignoring 3B and everything after it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-19
Updated: 2019-10-19
Packaged: 2020-12-23 23:10:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21089366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/falsewings/pseuds/falsewings
Summary: After they’ve returned from Neverland, after Rumpelstiltskin sacrifices himself to defeat Pan, after everything seemed to calm down in Storybrooke, there’s this: Emma, Regina and Neal trying to co-parent Henry as amicably as possible.A collection of stories about Emma, Regina and Neal trying to get along for Henry's sake. You have to admit, it would have been amusing.FYI: I'm ignoring season 3B and a lot of what comes after it. I've only seen seasons 1-3 and season 7. Also, Pan never gets to curse the town so everyone gets to stay in Storybrooke at the end of 3A.





	Henry's Strange Little Family

**Author's Note:**

> If you went back and checked the ouat tag on my tumblr, you'll see that I've wanted the show to give us Emma, Neal and Regina just interacting and parenting Henry together since the begining of 3A, if not since the season 2 finale. Not even in an OT3 way (I've only ever shipped 3 things for ouat), I just wanted them all to get along for Henry's sake. But instead, the writers killed off Neal in 3B.
> 
> This might be the definition of self-indulgent fic because I think I'm the only person who wanted this. I don't know how many scenarios I'm going to write for this but I do have a list of what I think would be entertaining.
> 
> I might have messed up on the verb tenses so feel free to correct me for any grammar mistakes. And I'm probably changing the title eventually.

It was Neal’s idea. Because of course it was.

* * *

It turns out custody agreements and visitations are even more complicated when there are three parents involved. 

After they’ve returned from Neverland, after Rumpelstiltskin sacrifices himself to defeat Pan, after everything seemed to calm down in Storybrooke, there’s this: Emma, Regina and Neal trying to co-parent Henry as amicably as possible. 

It’s a lot of trial and error but it winds up involving daily discussions at Granny’s Diner after they’ve all dropped Henry off at school. And it’s during one of these discussions that Neal shares his ludicrous idea.

“I’m just saying that it would make things easier. We’d all get to be with Henry without too much trouble,” Neal says casually as he slouches in the booth. 

He’s seated across from Regina while Emma’s pulled up a chair to sit at the end of the table. There’s actually more than enough room on either side of the booth for Emma to sit, but they’d quickly learned that sharing a side tends to make the other parent feel like they’re being teamed up on. So now they conduct these parental discussions sitting like points of a triangle.

Emma remains unconvinced about the current topic of discussion.

“Okay, but all three of us moving in together? It’s weird.”

“Weirder than this town being under the curse for 30 years? Or Peter Pan kidnapping our son who’s also his great grandchild?”

Emma rolls her eyes and scoffs. Regina looks just as skeptical.

“I noticed,” Regina says, “That you decided to volunteer my house for this idea of yours.”

“To be fair, both Emma and I have limited space. But hey,” he says with a sort of amused smirk, “We could always go look at rental houses. Split the rent into thirds.”

Regina has this mix of disgust and confusion on her face, like the very concept horrifies her but she’s also not sure if he was kidding or not. Emma just looks at him unamused. “Weirder,” she deadpans.

“Look, I’m just saying it would make things simple. No more disagreements about who gets Henry for the weekend. So think about it at least. Please?” 

“Fine,” Emma sighs. Then, after Regina shoots her a betrayed look, “I didn’t say yes. Just. Let’s think about it.”

“Okay, we’ll _ think about it _,” Regina says sourly.

And it takes a month of thinking and discussing, but they eventually agree on a trial run. Emma moves into the lone (and seldom used) guest room of Regina’s house. Regina’s home office gets converted into a bedroom for Neal. That is to say, Regina moves her desk into her own bedroom and places a futon in the former office. It’s not much, but Neal’s never been picky about his accommodations.

Move-in day is quick and mostly uneventful. Emma hasn’t acquired too many things since she’s moved to Storybrooke. Meanwhile, most of Neal’s belongings are still in New York. He’s not ready to go back there, not even for a short trip.

He’s busy unpacking his clothes when Emma knocks on his open door.

“So Regina’s making lasagna for dinner,” she says.

“Okay.” Neal tries to keep his tone neutral but Emma sees through it. Because when has Emma _ not _seen through him.

“See!,” Emma points a finger at him accusingly, “It’s weird!”

“Maybe,” Neal finally concedes, “But who knows, we might get used to it.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and critiques are very much appreciated. Like, I haven't posted a (full length) fanfic in maybe 10-ish years so if there are places I can improve, I'm open to criticism.


End file.
